Zambrano act bombs

Cubs' starter tagged for 3 HRs, nearly triggers brawl

Cardinals 5, Cubs 4

The All-Star break did nothing to change the direction the Cubs are headed in, and it apparently wasn't a time for Carlos Zambrano to reflect on his emotional outbursts.

The Cubs dropped a 5-4 game to St. Louis Monday night at Wrigley Field, falling a season-high nine games behind the division leaders, while Zambrano's antics nearly led to a bench-clearing incident between the two rivals.

Zambrano wound up getting ejected for hitting center fielder Jim Edmonds in his backside after Scott Rolen's two-run home run gave the Cardinals a two-run lead in the eighth, which also meant an automatic ejection for manager Dusty Baker.

Afterward, a defiant Baker said Zambrano threw better than he had in any start over the last two years, and was unapologetic about Zambrano's displays.

"If that's what he needs to throw like that, so be it," Baker said.

All the commotion really began in the fourth when Edmonds cranked a two-run homer to right field onto Sheffield Avenue after being hit by Zambrano in his first at-bat. As Edmonds was rounding third, Zambrano cupped his right hand around his mouth and began shouting at him from the mound, telling Edmonds to speed it up.

"I told him, `Run the bases, don't try to be cocky. Hit the ball and run like Rolen does when he hits a home run,'" Zambrano said.

Edmonds didn't respond to the taunting, but moments later Cubs catcher Michael Barrett began jawing with someone in the Cardinals' dugout and had to be momentarily restrained.

"I have a job to do--to protect my pitcher," Barrett said. "I looked in their dugout and one of the players asked me what I was looking at and I got irritated."

The Cubs came into Monday night knowing they had to win both games of the series because they won't meet them again in the regular season.

"It's not a do-or-die game at this point," Baker said. "But it's very important. This is our last head-to-head shot at them. We need these games. . . . We'll find out who the big-game guys are."

After Edmonds' blast and Edgar Renteria's solo homer in the fifth combined to put the Cardinals ahead 3-0, the Cubs bounced back off Chris Carpenter in the bottom of the inning, tying it on Mark Grudzielanek's sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded, two-run single by Moises Alou.

But the Cubs blew a prime-time scoring opportunity in the sixth after a leadoff double by Aramis Ramirez. Barrett singled to right, but with no outs, third-base coach Wendell Kim waved home Ramirez, who is coming off a serious groin injury. Ramirez was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Reggie Sanders, and Barrett held at first, where he was erased on an Alex Gonzalez grounder.

"I felt I let the city of Chicago down," Kim said. "I caused the loss. I was aggressive at the wrong time, and I'm sorry. I have to do my best to make a better judgment call."

After Zambrano walked Tony Womack leading off the St. Louis eighth, Womack advanced on a passed ball and was sacrificed to third. Zambrano struck out Albert Pujols, but Rolen launched his 20th homer on a 2-1 pitch, giving the Cardinals a 5-3 lead. Zambrano plunked Edmonds with his first pitch, and was immediately tossed by umpire Joe Brinkman, who issued warnings to both teams.

Zambrano said he wasn't trying to hit Edmonds, and that Alou told him it wasn't wrong for Edmonds to stand for a second and watch his home run fly out onto the street.

"Moises told me anyone can do that," Zambrano said. "If you hit the ball out of the park, it's a human reaction [to watch it]."